‘Factual’ Fagan earns praise from Brisbane Lions co-captain Harris Andrews

The Brisbane Lions have plenty of incentive to win back-to-back AFL premierships.

Lions co-captain Harris Andrews says Brisbane’s premiership-winning coach Chris Fagan will keep his players accountable if standards slip in the club’s title defence.

Andrews was delighted Fagan had committed to the club at least until the end of the 2027 season, saying the veteran mentor had done an “unbelievable” job since taking charge of the Lions in 2017.

“He’s super excited for that period of time, and I can’t wait to keep being led by him,” Andrews said on Thursday from the club’s training and community camp on the Sunshine Coast.

And while Fagan is often lauded for the caring relationship he has with his players, Andrews said it was the coach’s “factual” approach that was also appreciated by the team.

Harris Andrews and the Brisbane Lions are determined to win back-to-back premierships. Picture: Mark Stewart

“He doesn’t jump in shadows. He makes sure that us as players, we get the right facts,” Andrews said.

“If we’re doing something well, he’ll reward that, but if we need to pick it up, then he’ll give us that feedback.

“He’s been unbelievable for us, and the whole organisation, since he rolled into the doors eight or nine years ago.”

Andrews said winning the premiership had not lessened the Lions’ motivation for this season.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who unfortunately missed out on the whole of last year so I’m super-motivated to make sure we perform well, and try to get back to what we achieved last year with those guys involved,” he said on reflecting on long-term injuries suffered last season by players including Keidean Coleman, Linc McCarthy, Tom Doedee and Darcy Gardiner.

“We’ve played finals for the last six years, we’ve had a lot of top-four finishes, played deep into September across a couple of years, and I’m relatively confident that we’ve had that stigma around teams coming to get us.

“We’ve obviously been able to work our way through that, and I’d expect (the same) this year.

“The boys are training super-hard at the moment, making sure we’re enjoying every session, but also enjoying the grind of pre-season and trying to find little things that continue to make us better, and `Fages’ (Fagan) is doing a good job driving that.”

Originally published as ‘Factual’ Fagan earns praise from Brisbane Lions co-captain Harris Andrews